Vlog Episode # 3: How to tell if something is Islamic or just “Islamic”

A touchstone is a piece of fine-grained dark schist or jasper formerly used for testing alloys of gold by observing the color of the mark that they made on it.

The two main touchstones of Islamic compliance in Islam are the Quran and the tradition and sayings of the prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him (known as Al-Sunnah in Arabic).

Scholars in the Quran and Sunnah can readily refer to these touchstones when making a judgement on the level of Islamic compliance for a particular product or investment.

It would be useful if there were a set of mental touchstones the average consumer could readily use to know if they are truly dealing with an “Islamic” investment or just one that advertises itself as such.

In this article, I propose 3 simple touchstones in the form of questions that anyone can answer about any financial product without knowing anything…